As part of ongoing agricultural cooperation between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, the China Agriculture Studies Village program was launched on Sunday in east China's Shandong Province.

 

The program, aimed at strengthening technological exchange and training, involves the construction of a 53.3-hectare campus in Xixia, according to a local government source.

 

The institute will provide both tertiary education and vocational training in agricultural studies.

 

To be named the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Taiwan Ping Tung University of Science and Technology, the institute will admit its first batch of college students in September 2009.

 

It is expected that the majority of the students who enroll will be from Taiwan.

 

The institute will also provide training to Chinese?mainland and Taiwan farmers.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 23, 2006)